America's women boxers produced a superb performance in the recent Games – at which the female version of the sport made its debut – with middleweight Claressa Shields claiming gold and flyweight Marlen Esparza taking a bronze.

But the men's team, which has historically dominated Olympic boxing through legends such as Cassius Clay - better known as Muhammad Ali - along with George Foreman and Sugar Ray Leonard, completely flopped in London, failing to win a medal.

Spence (pictured top) proved the best performer, however, as the 22-year-old welterweight from Texas reached the quarter-finals before being defeated by Russia's Andrey Zamkovoy, who went on to take bronze.

The results angered United States Olympic Committee (USOC) chief executive Scott Blackmun, who has threatened to "make some changes" to USA Boxing.

Claressa Shields showed her US male team-mates the way by winning middleweight gold at London 2012

US men's Olympic boxers have won a record 108 medals.

But since David Reid took gold at Atlanta in 1996, only one US man - Andre Ward at Athens in 2004 - has taken the Olympic title.

The failure of the men's team came after the US only won a bronze medal at Beijing 2008 through heavyweight Deontay Wilder.

Spence, though, believes America will again become a strong force, especially with the International Boxing Association (AIBA) seeking to professionalise the sport for Rio 2016 by removing headguards and changing the points scoring system in favour of relying on judges' decisions.

"It is disappointing," Spence told insidethegames of his highly rated team's failure in London.

"We are taught to fight with a more professional style in America so this points system doesn't really suit us.

"But I know they [the AIBA] are trying to become more professional so I think that will definitely help America going forward."


US Olympic boxing star Sugar Ray Leonard (left) struck light welterweight gold at Montreal 1976

"If you look at Olympic boxing back when guys like Ali and Leonard were fighting it was pretty much professional and set you up for a great professional career," Spence said.

"I think the sooner we get back to that the better."

The AIBA's move towards professionalism started in 2010 with the launch of its World Series of Boxing programme and it will become a central theme at the end of next year with the launch of the AIBA Professional Boxing (APB) competition.

APB, one of the AIBA's most ambitious projects to date, will see fighters able to box professionally on central contracts while retaining their Olympic eligibility.

It will offer over 50 quota places for the Rio 2016 Olympics.

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